This invention relates to a communications technique for communications among communications devices using interconnected networks, or a global communications network, in particular, one enabling communications among communications devices connected to subscriber lines using an internetworking technique for example the Internet.
In recent years, communications have been available which using internetworking technologies. Specifically, communications using IP protocol which is an industry standard have been provided over the Internet. At first, most of communications services over the Internet were data communications such as FTP, TELNET, and SMTP. In these days, telephone calls over the telephone network have come to be substituted by communications over the Internet.
By the way, subscriber numbers of the telephone network and network communications addresses of the Internet, or IP addresses are completely independent from each other. Therefore, it is not possible to do a telephone call over the Internet with a subscriber number in a convenient manner. Usually, Both parties concerned who talk over the telephone should access a server (rendezvous server) on the Internet, at the same time. Alternatively, it is necessary to talk over the telephone by using special gateways on the Internet.
A related technology is a dial-up IP connection. When a communications device takes connection with the Internet by a dial-up IP connection, a related remote access server allocates the communications device with a non-fixed IP address. Therefore, it is not possible for a party on the Internet (on the remote access server) to access, with an IP address, a communications device which uses a dial-up IP connection. That is, a dial-up connection can be initiated only in one direction.
The present invention accordingly aims at enabling to access a communications device placed in a circuit switched network by using a network communications address.
According to the present invention, in order to attain the above mentioned object, a subscriber number of a subscriber device connected to a circuit switched network is associated with a network communications address of the subscriber device so that a party can telephone call with the subscriber device using the network communications address.
Control information for call-out control etc. can be communicated over a circuit switched network, or routed by using a network communications address. Moreover, as a signaling method, either of the common channel signaling system and the channel associated signaling system can be used.
The network communications address is an address for identifying a resource placed in an interconnected networks, and it is for instance the global IP address. Moreover, a combination of a global IP address of a network or the representing node of the network and a private address within the network can be used as the network communications address.
A subscriber device can be any type of device which has a communications function, and besides a telephone set, a computer, a television set, a set top box, kiosks, GPS and the like are acceptable.
In this configuration, it is possible to talk over the telephone to a communications device connected to a circuit switched network by using a network communications address for instance, a global IP address. Moreover, the communications device connected to the circuit switched network can be used as a resource on the Internet.